UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA  Agricultural  ExperimentStation 

College  of  agriculture  e.j.  wickson,  director 

BERKELEY,   CALIFORNIA 

CIRCULAR  No.  36 

(March,  1908.) 


ANALYSES  OF  FERTILIZERS  FOR  CONSUMERS. 

Under  the  provisions  of  Section  4  of  the  State  Fertilizer  Act,  any  consumer  of 
commercial  fertilizers  residing  in  California  may  have  analyses  made  in  return  for 
a  nominal  fee  for  each  analysis.  This  fee  of  $2  per  sample  examined  does  not 
begin  to  pay  the  actual  cost,  but  is  exacted  to  partially  pay  the  running  expenses 
of  the  Fertilizer  Control  and  to  insure  that  correspondents  shall  not  send  in  un- 
necessary samples.  To  properly  take  advantage  of  this  privilege,  persons  interested 
should  be  careful  to  take  their  samples  in  a  way  that  shall  make  them  represen- 
tative of  the  entire  lot  of  goods.  If  samples  are  not  so  taken  the  analysis  will 
make  it  appear  that  the  goods  are  either  of  greater  or  less  value  than  they  really 
are.  In  one  case  doing  an  injustice  to  the  consumer,  in  the  other  to  the  manu- 
facturer. 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  SAMPLING. 

The  sample  should  be  drawn  from  not  less  than  ten  packages,  if  the  lot  is  five 
tons  or  less;  if  the  lot  is  over  five  tons,  the  sample  should  be  drawn  from  not  less 
than  twenty  packages.  The  larger  the  number  of  packages  sampled,  the  more 
representative  the  sample  will  be.  The  sample  drawn  as  specified  above  should  be 
thoroughly  mixed,  great  care  being  exercised  to  prevent  the  separation  of  coarse 
and  fine  materials.  Not  less  than  one  quart  should  be  taken  from  this  sample,  to 
be  sent  to  the  Station  for  analysis.  Whenever  possible  the  sampling  should  be 
done  in  the  presence  of  the  agent,  who  should  sign,  as  a  witness,  the  certificate 
given  below.  If  the  sample  is  not  drawn  in  the  presence  of  the  agent,  it  should 
be  drawn  in  the  presence  of  some  other  person,  who  should  sign  the  certificate  as 
a  witness. 

REPORTS  OF  ANALYSES. 

Upon  receipt  of  analysis  fee,  properly  filled  out  certificate,  and  sample,  the 
analysis  will  be  made  as  soon  as  circumstances  permit,  usually  in  the  course  of  a 
week.  A  preliminary  report  will  then  be  sent  to  the  consumer  with  a  request  to 
furnish  certain  information  as  to  source,  and  guaranty  accompanying  the  fer- 
tilizer. When  this  request  is  complied  with  a  final  report  will  be  sent  to  all  inter- 
ested parties,  showing  the  commercial  value  of  the  goods  as  compared  with  the 
minimum  guaranty  of  the  manufacturer.  If  consumers  desire  to  waive  the  priv- 
ilege of  withholding  the  guaranty  till  the  preliminary  report  is  made,  this  latter 
will  be  omitted  and  a  final  report  rendered  immediately  on  completion  of  the 
analysis.  In  such  cases  the  consumer  should  forward  the  fertilizer  tag,  names  and 
addresses  of  manufacturer  and  dealer  at  the  time  of  sending  the  certificate. 

CERTIFICATE  FOR  CONSUMER'S  ANALYSIS. 
On  the  following  leaf  is  the  certificate  that  consumers  are  required  to  fill  out. 
It  may  be  detached  and  used  as  such.     Checks  or  money  orders  should  be  made  in 
favor  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  California. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  California,  Davis  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/analysesoffertil36burd 


*?1 


CERTIFICATE  FOB  CONSUMER'S  ANALYSIS. 


E.  J.  Wickson,  Director, 

Berkeley,  Calif. 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  am  not  a  dealer  in,  or  agent  for  the  sale  of 
any  fertilizer,  and  that  the  fertilizer,  a  sample  of  which  I  have  sent  you 

for  analysis,  was  purchased  by  me  ,  190 , 

for  my  own  use  and  not  for  sale. 

I  further  certify  that  the  amount  purchased  was tons  and 

that  the  sample  was  drawn  from packages  and  was  thoroughly 

mixed. 

Upon  receipt  of  the  analysis  from  you,  I  agree  to  furnish  you  with 
a  tag  or  label  taken  from  one  of  the  packages  sampled,  the  name  and 
address  of  the  manufacturer,  and  of  the  dealer  of  whom  the  fertilizer 
was  purchased.    I  enclose  two  dollars  analysis  fee. 

(Signature) 

(P.O.  Address) 

(Date) 

(Signature  of  Witness) 


FEETILIZER  BULLETINS. 

Semi-annual  reports  of  the  inspection  of  fertilizers  throughout  the  State  are 
issued  in  the  form  of  bulletins  by  this  Department.  These  include  all  analyses  of 
samples  collected  in  the  open  market  and  in  the  hands  of  purchasers  by  our  in- 
spectors, as  well  as  those  of  the  consumers'  samples  which  have  been  taken  in 
accordance  with  our  requirements.  Study  of  these  reports  will  greatly  aid  the 
prospective  purchaser  of  fertilizers  in  determining  the  relative  reliability  of  manu- 
facturers and  the  character  of  the  goods  they  supply.  Bulletins  may  be  had  on 
application. 

John  S.  Burd, 
Chemist  in  Charge,  Fertilizer  Control. 


